Parle Agro fires salvo, gets SRK to endorse Frooti

Aims to take on PepsiCo's Slice, endorsed by Katrina Kaif, and Coca-Cola's Maaza with Parineeti Chopra as ambassador

Shifting from its usual marketing strategy, Parle Agro today said it had signed an agreement with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan to be brand ambassador for its popular mango drink brand, Frooti.

Facing pressure from competing mango drink sellers, the company is to begin a new promotion campaign this weekend. It is for the first time in its history that it would be planning a ‘big bang’ campaign featuring a Bollywood star. The plan is to spend about Rs 40 crore for the campaign, to be run through the entire summer.

PepsiCo’s mango drink, Slice, is endorsed by another Bollywood star, Katrina Kaif. Coca-Cola’s Maaza is endorsed by Imran Khan and Parineeti Chopra.

Shah Rukh was chosen for his mass appeal, said Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and chief marketing officer, Parle Agro. Getting him to endorse Frooti is expected to take the brand to places where it’s never been before and widen its consumer appeal, she added.

“We will focus on making the appetite value of India’s most popular mango beverage come alive. For the past 27 years, Frooti has been synonymous with its ‘Fresh ‘n’ Juicy’ jingle. Now, by bringing on a brand ambassador as huge and popular as Shah Rukh Khan, we aim to reach a wider cross-section of consumers,” she said.

The campaign is to start with the digital medium, followed by television and outdoors. The company expects Frooti to grow 40-50 per cent in 2013, said Chauhan.

Frooti’s managers would be previewing the new commercial, developed by Creative Land Asia, on Twitter on Wednesday. It would be on television screens this Sunday.

Chauhan says Frooti, launched in 1985, has about 80 per cent market share in the mango drinks category.

She added the plan was to set up three new factories -- in Hyderabad, north India and northeast India -- for bottling Frooti in glass bottles this year. There are currently five bottling factories. Parle Agro started selling Frooti in glass bottles in 2011.